"Britain has already lost India, either to the inevitable Japanese attack, or to the Indian nationalists." Walter Eugene Clark, Wales Professor of Sanskrit and Master of Kirkland House stated yesterday. Professor Clark, expert on Indian civilizations, claimed further that if Indian political demands are answered by Britain, the nation will unite against the invaders in much the same way as China did in 1937.
Stressing the poverty of the nation and its paralyzing internal disuntiy, the professor asserted, however, that great strides had been made in Indian production and rearmament. "A nation whose average yearly income is $40 per capita has, by concerted national effort, raised an army of a million men, and has raised steel production to a million and a half tons. Further, Indian manufacturing of small arms, rifles, machine guns, and other smaller weapons and pieces of equipment has tripled in recent years," he claimed.
But Britain's policy of "laissez faire" hands off, has forced India to develop herself and has left such national projects as education and sanitation in a desperate condition, Professor Clark declared. "One person out of ten can read and write, and British improvements have been small in comparison to the mountain to Indian reform that is necessary."
Thus there are no particular ties of gratitude that exist between the Crown Colony and the mother country, the Sanskrit scholar continued. But Indian admiration for Japan, born at the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japurably since the occupation of Manchuanese War of 1905, had dwindled measria in 1931 and the general Nipponese aggrandizement of Eastern Asia, he added.
"Britain's loss of the Colony is being precipitated by the English Conser- vatives' refusal to grant dominion status to the nationalists, led by Jawaharlal Nehru, Congress leader." On the other hand, granting such demands will inevitably lead to Indian independence, he maintained.
India will be left in a disunited, chaotic condition by any move for independence. Withdrawal of foreign capital will ruin the young country's economy, while cleavages between Mohammedan, Hindu and northern seats will destroy any vestige of national unity, the Professor emphasized.
"The whole tragic situation can be traced to the British conservatives who have given Indians no chance to lead their own people, even in local affairs. The country will be lost, and with it 390 million people, and an area as large as Europe.
Read more in News
Applicants for Jobs Under the Temporary Student Employment Plan